Chapter 497 Extra Story About Cooper and Norman


    When Cooper was only sixteen, he took part in the Olympic Mathematicspetition abroad.


    One evening, on his way back to his hotel room, something unexpected happened. Several foreign men barred his path, mugged him in a secluded


    alley and beat the living daylights out of him


    Just when a fist was about tond on his face, a girl shouted, "The police areing! Police! They''re over here!" The sound of her voice was loud


    and clear enough for the gangsters to hear.


    Since their position had beenpromised, the gangsters ran away with their tails tucked between their legs.


    The girl quickly ran towards Cooper, grabbed his wrist, and dragged him away without hesitation. "Run!"


    He couldn''t see her face clearly, but he decided that he needed to prioritize his safety and ran with her.


    Momentster, the gangsters realized that something was amiss. When they turned around, they found that there were no policemen after them.


    By the time they returned, the girl and the boy were already gone.


    The gangsters cursed their own luck and foolishness, and decided to give up.


    Cooper followed the girl along, and they didn’t stop until their legs had no more strength to move forward.


    She then put her hands on her knees, gasping for breath


    Only then did Cooper see her face clearly. She was neat, good-looking. and easy on the eyes. "Thank you for saving my life." he said.


    “You''re wee. Now, hurry up. You need to go!”


    "What''s your name?"


    "It''s Maria Song. I''m from H City," she answered.


    Cooper smiled at her. "What a coincidence! I''m also fram H City. Nice to meet you, Maria. My name is Cooper Xi.”


    Back then, he was only sixteen, and Maria was neen years old.N?velDrama.Org owns this.


    Neither of them had imagined that they would soon meet once more. They met each other once more in the Xi family''s manor, right when Maria was


    about to be his sister-inw.


    They were both amazed that they saw each other again.


    At the time, Cooper was really into Maria. But of course, he only like her in the simplest sense of it.


    He was really happy for his elder brother, knowing that she was going to be his brother''s wife.


    To Cooper, Maria was like a sister. He always spoke to her whenever he was free. And under pressure from Judy, he would always do his best to help


    Maria.


    However, unbeknownst to them, as time went by, rumors about the two of them were spreading.


    Some people were saying that Maria was seducing Cooper whenever her husband wasn''t at home.


    Most of the rumors were harsh, and Cooper felt really guilty about them. He was afraid that his presence would stain his brother and sister-inw''s


    rtionship, so he decided to stay abroad and study for a long time.


    When he found out that his nephew had died in an ident, he didn''t even dare to call Maria tofort her. He was wary that rumors about them


    would spread again


    He thought that it was best to not contact her at all. And as a result, in Maria''s most trying moment, he knew nothing about her hardships.


    This was the biggest regret in his life. Had he known that something bad would happen to Maria, he would''ve contacted her instead of standing idly


    by


    After she departed the Xi family, Cooper wanted to look for her, but he didn''t have enough power or resources at the time. He tried his best, but he


    never found her whereabouts, so he had no choice but to give up.


    Fortunately, she reappeared yearster. Cooper tried to set her up with his brother regardless of everything that had happened in the past


    Unexpectedly, through Maria, Sandra broke into his life.


    When he first saved Sandra, he had no idea that he would one day fall in love with her.


    Butpared to Sandra, Cooper was far too scared of falling in love.


    She had always been the one who had the courage to move their rtionship forward. From the very beginning, he had been too cowardly to face the


    fact that she had feelings for him


    Initially, he was just epting her help because of Maria.


    And in order to save Sandra from further heartache, Cooper told her that he just didn''t want to be in a rtionship right now.


    To his surprise, it didn''t faze her. She just became much more enthusiastic ever since he returned to H City.


    And perhaps it was due to this persistence and enthusiasm that he gradually developed feelings for her.


    He wasn''t sure when he started to feel something for Sandra, but he was certain that he now wanted to be with her.


    One rainy night, Sandra was feeling depressed about failing her exam. She sought him forfort, asking him if he could give her a hug.


    After a long time of hesitation, he finally decided to give in.


    Both excitement and sadness ruled her heart, causing Sandra to cry in his harms.


    Upon seeing her pitiful face, Cooper was drawn to kiss her lips.


    At the time, Sandra was too startled to kiss him back. She just stood there, frozen, and letting him kiss her.


    This love was what she had been longing for all this time. But now that it was right before her eyes, it caught her by her surprise.


    But just when she thought their rtionship was progressing, it went back to how it was before.


    It almost seemed like that kiss meant nothing at all.


    And after all the disappointment and heartache he had caused her, Sandra finally chose to surrender.


    It was far toote when Cooper finally decided to confess.


    Of course, Sandra wanted to refuse him, but she was still madly in love with him. Soon, he tore down her walls with his affection, and they wereter


    engaged.


    Upon their return to H City, the first


    thing Coopetdid was to arrange a


    formal meeting between the two


    families.* ‘He had sessfully =


    convigeed Sandra''s parents to


    ept him despite their former


    antagonistic nature againskhim.


    ~~


    Xu


    SS


    To Cooper, Sandra was the woman he wanted to spent the rest of his life with. Marriage was just a matter of time, so he thought that getting married


    as soon as possible was the best course of action.


    Sandra was still panicking because of how fast things were progressing. She wasn''t ready to be a wife yet. On top of everything, because of James


    and Maria''s problems, Cooper had to postpone their wedding


    Sometimeter, they were finally together. His life had be a little simpler. yet it had be much livelier than it used to be. With Sandra by his


    side, he was the happiest man on earth.


    Later, the first thing they did was to get their marriage licenses. Their wedding was held two months after James and Maria’s wedding.


    Sandra liked to have fun, so Cooper invited many rtives and friends to their wedding.


    On the day after their wedding, she found out that she was two months pregnant.


    Eight monthster, the Xi family''s fourth child was born


    Cooper had wanted to have a daughter, but his wish was not granted.


    Fortunately for him, their second child was a girl. Now. they had a son and a daughter.


    After Sebastian and Gabri renewed their vows, Norman decided to adopt the surname, Xi. Obviously, he was against it because it was too


    troublesome. But his elder brother, James, had personally asked him to do so.


    Norman wanted to use Maria to persuade his brother otherwise, but James was also aware of his foolish younger brother''s Achilles’ heel, and that


    was Mildred.


    In the end, Norman reluctantly


    agreed to charge his surname.


    Although héwas trying to be low-key


    about it, Was a name that he <


    couldn''t fide. Not long after, <>


    everyone I in H City knew that _\''


    Narfnan was also Sebastianand


    Gabri ''s biological son. From then


    on, Norman Shen no longer existed,


    for he was now Norman Xi.


    Since he was having trouble changing his surname. he left most of his work to Maria


    However, she called him to protest. "Norman, don''t you think it''s inappropriate of you to treat me like a ve? Tell me, are you on my side or James''?"


    "But, we are family now. We look after each other, right?”


    His rebuttal left Maria speechless.


    She shouldn''t have called him.


    Strangely enough, Cooper got along well with Norman.


    James, on the other hand, was having a hard time doing the same. He and Norman had long been antagonistic of each other.


    But after everything that had happened, things were starting to get better between them, especially now that James and Maria''s rtionship was.


    getting better.


    A long time age, when Norman


    started his business, James found


    out that they were half-brothers =>


    through 1 their mother. Because ofS


    that, James did nothing to attack his


    brotaer, in spite of Norman’ ‘xacting


    against him.


    a


    Later, Norman provoked James whenever he could. On the surface, he looked mature and calm. But in reality, he was a wild child. James had to


    endure it all


    But the only thing James couldn''t stand to take was the fact that Norman tried to sow discord between him and Maria. This was thest straw.


    As long as Norman didn''t involve Maria into their problem, James would try to reach apromise with him.


    Fortunately, now that Norman had be part of the Xi family, and James’ rtionship with Maria was stabilizing, their brotherhood was bing


    much better.


    In the past, they were each other''s nemesis. But they soon learned to rely on each other. They had also joined hands through joint business ventures,


    and finally reconciled and formed an alliance.